Love Song Lyrics

Added on Wednesday 6 Jul 2011

Love is one of those dishes that can be served up a thousand different ways and still be a lyrical feast. Like Bubba’s shrimp list in the movie Forrest Gump, if you made a list of all the song titles that use the L word, it would reach from “here to New Orleans.”

The love song can range from celebratory to suicidal and all points in between, and still be considered a love song. Because love is the driving force behind much of human activity, writers never seem to run out of inspiration. In fact, every generation seems to recycle some of the same emotions, situations, and predicaments that love seems to breed, each time around, totally unaware that it was said before by other generations.

Let’s take a look at the variety of ways the subject of love can be treated:

“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”

This super-smash #1 hit by Aerosmith (written by Diane Warren) shows that top songwriters don’t get much better — or more popular — than Diane Warren. She was asked by Aerosmith’s A&R guy to come up with the main title for the soon-to-be-blockbuster film Armageddon — and what she came up with summarized the emotions of the film to a tee.

It’s touching without being sappy, sentiments that would have destroyed the street cred of a hard-rock band like Aerosmith in one downbeat!

In some future rock ’n’ roll encyclopedia, if you look up “power ballad,” this may be at the top of the heap.

“Love Story”

This love song uses the age-old and very effective Romeo and Juliet theme — hey, it was good enough for Bill Shakespeare! Composer and artist Taylor Swift uses the effective flashback device to add the dimension of time. This adds a somewhat dreamlike mood to the lyric and makes the listener wonder, did it really happen like this, or is she living an illusion? Notice the quick rhymes as she baits the hook: “We’ll make it out of this mess, it’s a love story baby, just say yes” and “go pick out a white dress, it’s a love story baby, just say yes.” This song was a hit for many reasons: Taylor’s vocal delivery, her persona, the strong melody, a hot video, and, more than any other element, the “relatability” to her target audience — a young audience that can relate to every word she says and can put themselves in the shoes of the modern day Romeo and Juliet.

When writing a love song, try to find a fresh angle from which to approach this subject. Look at some of your favorite love songs and notice the ways in which the writers have set their songs apart from the thousands of others.

When in doubt, follow your heart. If the sentiment rings true, you may have the start of a great new love song.